I'm new to foils (with a 2nd hand flysurfer soul) and so far self launching and landing has been stress free. Even drying a kite out after being caught in a rain shower has been easier than the equivalent fun with an LEI
However every session so far starts with 15 minutes of playing with string. I have been copying the youtube line management videos where the bar remains connected (haven't tried the Liquid force method yet) but I can't work out what I'm doing wrong with my pack-up that means it seems so tangled every time.
Here's my packdown.
- Land kite (Top down), anchor in place, open deflate vents
- wrap lines up to the connectors and tie bungees
- wrap bridles up to the pulleys.
- Move bar to the leading edge (completely off the leading edge actually) in the centre so that it pulls the bridles into the middle
- Fold kite and roll from the wingtip into the centre (make sure no bridle lines are sticking out)
- When its at the centre pull bar onto the kite and fold over either edge and stick it in the bag.
My setup is different.
- Open bag. Kite on the ground. Move bar onto the ground and unfold/unroll the kite. Weight upwind tip
- Take bar over to the trailing edge
- Unwrap bar about 5m down past the connectors
- Spend 15 minutes untangling lines so I know none of them are twisted. (Visual check of A/B/C/Z bridles to make sure they aren't interfering with each other)
- Unwrap the rest of the lines
- Inflate and launch.
Its all good apart from the massive amount of untangling. I had (have) one of those chinese kites that must not be named and the shorter bridles made it a lot simpler to setup. Maybe I'm being overly cautious but I like to have a check before putting the kite up. Is it something that you just skip as you get more experienced?
Any suggestions to make it quicker?